Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has attacked President Muhammadu Buhari for midwiving a national carrier, Nigeria Air, stillbirth.
The failed national carrier project has also received bashing from Reno Omokri, a former aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
On his part, Mr. Obasanjo mocked the Buhari administration, saying some Nigerians would have castigated him if he had come out to say the planned national carrier was a scam.
In a Twitter post, the former president said, “Unfortunately, if I had come out to say the ‘Nigeria Air’ project was another political gimmick by this administration, some Nigerians would have castigated me that ‘Baba has come again.’
“Now, I want to believe Nigerians are wiser and can no longer be deceived easily by Buhari.”
The tweet which has already been favourited by 1,447 and retweeted 843 times is just one among the scathing criticisms the administration has received since it aborted the planned national carrier.
In a tweet on Friday, Mr. Omokri drew his followers to an earlier post where he likened the new national carrier project to a Ponzi scheme, MMM.
The post, which first appeared on July 21 read, “What is the difference between MMM and Buhari’s proposed Nigeria Air”
“They are both pyramid schemes. They both don’t have a functioning website. They both have shady, faceless investors. And they will both take your money and disappear.”
The government had on Wednesday announced an immediate suspension of the widely publicised national carrier, two months after it was unveiled at an international air show.
The Minister of Aviation Hadi Sirika made the announcement shortly after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday afternoon.
READ ALSO: How Donald Duke Plunged Cross River Into N100billion Debt – Ex-Governor Imoke (Part 1)
He later posted the announcement on Twitter.
“I regret to announce that the Federal Executive Council has taken the tough decision to suspend the National Carrier Project in the interim,” Mr Sirika said. “All commitments due will be honoured. We thank the public for the support as always.”
No explanation was immediately given for the cancellation by Mr Sirika, either in his press briefing after the FEC meeting or on Twitter.
The announcement comes barely two months after Nigeria unveiled Nigeria Air at the Farnborough Air Show in England on July 18.
The government said at the time that it was in talks with technical partners in the aviation as well as aircraft manufacturers.
Apparently, to fulfil one of his campaign promises, Mr. Buhari was adamant about launching a new airline for the country, despite criticism from Nigerians who felt the project was ill-conceived and wrongly-timed.
